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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 6, 2021 at 8:02am

Researchers discover new way to halt excessive inflammation

Researchers have discovered a new way to 'put the brakes' on excessive inflammation by regulating a type of white blood cell that is critical for our immune system. The discovery has the potential to protect the body from unchecked damage caused by inflammatory diseases.

Excessive inflammation is a prominent feature of many diseases such as multiple sclerosis, arthritis and inflammatory bowel diseases.

When immune cells (white blood cells) in our body called macrophages are exposed to potent infectious agents, powerful inflammatory proteins known as cytokines are produced to fight the invading infection. However, if these cytokine levels get out of control, significant tissue damage can occur.

The researchers have found that a protein called Arginase-2 works through the energy source of macrophage cells, known as mitochondria, to limit inflammation. Specifically they have shown for the first time that Arginase-2 is critical for decreasing a potent inflammatory cytokine called IL-1.

This discovery could allow researchers to develop new treatments that target the Arginase-2 protein and protect the body from unchecked damage caused by inflammatory diseases.

Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21617-2

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-03-halt-excessive-inflammation....

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 5, 2021 at 10:07am

Velcro-like cellular proteins key to tissue strength

 Where do bodily tissues get their strength? New CU Boulder research provides important new clues to this long-standing mystery, identifying how specialized proteins called cadherins join forces to make cells stick and stay stuck together. The findings, publishing this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could lead to more life-like artificial tissues and tumor busting drugs. Better understanding these proteins allows for the design of more effective engineered tissues that better mimic biological materials as well as cancer therapeutics that are more efficient and target-specific.

For example: If a cancer treatment could block a specific interaction of these cadherin proteins, it could potentially slow tumor growth by stopping or slowing the formation of new blood vessels in tumors.

Cadherin proteins are important in our bodies because they facilitate the binding and adhesion of cells in neural, cardiac, placental and skin tissues, among others, helping them maintain their function and shape.

These large, rod-like proteins in the cell membrane mediate information between the inside and outside of the cell. Where they stick out, they can bond with other cadherin proteins from the same cell, as well as those from other cells.

Like Velcro, the study found, the more pieces stick together, the stronger the bond and the longer it lasts. This amplified strength not only between proteins which exist on the same cell, but between proteins located on different cells—creating bonds 30 times stronger than the sum of their individual strengths. And once the bonding begins, these bonds become progressively stronger and stronger.

https://www.pnas.org/content/118/10/e2019845118

https://www.colorado.edu/today/2021/03/01/velcro-cellular-proteins-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 4, 2021 at 1:00pm

Coronavirus: what happens when a person is simultaneously infected with two variants?

Scientists in Brazil recently reported that two people were simultaneously infected with two different variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. This co-infection seemed to have no effect on the severity of patients’ illness, and both recovered without needing to be hospitalised.

Although this is one of the few such cases recorded with SARS-CoV-2 – and the study is yet to be published in a scientific journal – scientists have observed infections with multiple strains with other respiratory viruses, such as influenza. This has raised questions about how these viruses may interact in an infected person, and what it could mean for generating new variants.

The detection of multiple variants in a person could be the result of co-infection by the different variants, or the generation of mutations within the patient after the initial infection. One way to discriminate these two scenarios is by comparing the sequences of the variants circulating in the population with those in the patient. In the Brazilian study mentioned above, the variants identified corresponded to different lineages that had been previously detected in the population, implying co-infection by the two variants.

It is important to note that this requires the two viruses to infect the same cell. Even if a person is infected with several variants, if they replicate in different parts of the body, they will not interact with each other. Indeed, this was seen in patients, where different quasi-species of coronaviruses were found in the upper and lower respiratory tracts, suggesting that viruses in these sites were not directly mixing with each other.

The evidence so far does not suggest that infection with more than one variant leads to more severe disease. And although possible, very few cases of co-infection have been reported. More than 90% of the infections in the UK currently are by B117 – the so-called Kent variant. With such a high prevalence of one variant in the population, co-infections are not likely to occur. Still, monitoring this landscape allows scientists to track the emergence of these new variants of concern and understand and respond to any changes in their transmission or vaccine efficacy.

https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-what-happens-when-a-person-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 4, 2021 at 12:28pm

Think all your plastic is being recycled? New research shows it can end up in the ocean

Some plastic waste ends up in the environment, even when we thought it was being recycled. Plastic waste most commonly leaks into the environment at the country to which it's shipped. Plastics which are of low value to recyclers, such as lids and polystyrene foam containers, are most likely to end up polluting the environment.

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Plastic waste collected for recycling is often sold for reprocessing in Asia. There, the plastics are sorted, washed, chopped, melted and turned into flakes or pellets. These can be sold to manufacturers to create new products.

The global recycled plastics market is dominated by two major plastic types:

polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which in 2017 comprised 55% of the recyclable plastics market. It's used in beverage bottles and takeaway food containers and features a "1" on the packaging

high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which comprises about 33% of the recyclable plastics market. HDPE is used to create pipes and packaging such as milk and shampoo bottles, and is identified by a "2."

The next two most commonly traded types of plastics, each with 4% of the market, are:

• polypropylene or "5," used in containers for yoghurt and spreads
• low-density polyethylene known as "4," used in clear plastic films on packaging.

The remaining plastic types comprise polyvinyl chloride (3), polystyrene (6), other mixed plastics (7), unmarked plastics and "composites." Composite plastic packaging is made from several materials not easily separated, such as long-life milk containers with layers of foil, plastic and paper.

This final group of plastics is not generally sought after as a raw material in manufacturing, so has little value to recyclers.

https://theconversation.com/think-all-your-plastic-is-being-recycle...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 4, 2021 at 12:23pm

Expect more extreme short-duration thunderstorms caused by global w...

Climate experts have revealed that rising temperatures will intensify future rainfall extremes at a much greater rate than average rainfall, with largest increases to short thunderstorms.

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How do you know where volcanic ash will end up?

When the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted in April 2010, air traffic was interrupted for six days and then disrupted until May. Until then, models from the nine Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres (VAACs) around the world, which aimed at predicting when the ash cloud interfered with aircraft routes, were based on the tracking of the clouds in the atmosphere.

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New approach to removing toxins from wastewater

The New York State Center for Clean Water Technology (CCWT) at Stony Brook University has made a series of critical discoveries regarding a new approach to protecting Long Island's drinking water, groundwater, and surface waters. Some of the discoveries involve the likely human carcinogen, 1,4-dioxane, which has been found at higher levels in Long Island drinking water than anywhere else in the U.S.

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Think all your plastic is being recycled? New research shows it can...

We all know it's wrong to toss your rubbish into the ocean or another natural place. But it might surprise you to learn some plastic waste ends up in the environment, even when we thought it was being recycled.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 4, 2021 at 12:20pm

How 'green' are environmentally friendly fireworks?

Fireworks are used in celebrations around the world, including Independence Day in the U.S., the Lantern Festival in China and the Diwali Festival in India. However, the popular pyrotechnic displays emit large amounts of pollutants into the atmosphere, sometimes causing severe air pollution. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology have estimated that, although so-called environmentally friendly fireworks emit 15-65% less particulate matter than traditional fireworks, they still significantly deteriorate air quality.

Environmentally friendly fire works aren’t really that friendly!

Fireworks are used in celebrations around the world. However, the popular pyrotechnic displays emit large amounts of pollutants into the atmosphere, sometimes causing severe air pollution. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology have estimated that, although so-called environmentally friendly fireworks emit 15-65% less particulate matter than traditional fireworks, they still significantly deteriorate air quality.

Fireworks displays can cause health problems, such as respiratory ailments, because they release high levels of air pollutants, including particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide, heavy metals and perchlorates. As a result, some cities have banned their use. But because the displays are an important aspect of many traditional celebrations, researchers and manufacturers have tried to develop more environmentally friendly pyrotechnics, including those with smokeless charges and sulfur-free propellants. Although research suggests that these fireworks emit less pollutants, their impact on air quality has not been evaluated.

Now researchers wanted to see how green these fire works are.

The researchers estimated emissions of PM2.5, which is PM with a diameter of 2.5 μm and smaller, from the 160,000 environmentally friendly fireworks set off during the display, as well as emissions from traditional fireworks. They used information on the wind direction, wind speed, temperature and chemical composition of the fireworks to simulate the size, trajectory and peak PM2.5 values for the smoke plume resulting from the event. Then, they compared their simulated values with actual data on PM2.5 concentrations measured at 75 monitoring stations throughout the city following the fireworks display.

In agreement with the team's predictions, the data showed that the fireworks smoke plume began as a narrow band that traveled northward before being fully dispersed, with peak PM2.5 levels similar to the predictions. The researchers used their validated simulation to estimate that the use of environmentally friendly fireworks produces a much smaller, shorter-lasting plume, with 15-65% of the PM2.5 emissions of a display using traditional fireworks. However, the peak concentration of PM2.5 still greatly exceeds WHO guidelines.

This led the researchers to conclude that the number of "green" fireworks used at one time should be restricted.

"Are Environmentally Friendly Fireworks Really "Green" for Air Quality? A Study from the 2019 National Day Fireworks Display in Shenzhen" Environmental Science & Technology (2021). pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.0c03521

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 4, 2021 at 12:09pm

Color blindness-correcting contact lenses

Imagine seeing the world in muted shades—gray sky, gray grass. Some people with color blindness see everything this way, though most can't see specific colors. Tinted glasses can help, but they can't be used to correct blurry vision. And dyed contact lenses currently in development for the condition are potentially harmful and unstable. Now, in ACS Nano, researchers report infusing contact lenses with gold nanoparticles to create a safer way to see colors.

Color blindness-correcting contact lenses

Imagine seeing the world in muted shades—gray sky, gray grass. Some people with color blindness see everything this way, though most can't see specific colors.

Now researchers report infusing contact lenses with gold nanoparticles to create a safer way to see colors.

Some daily activities, such as determining if a banana is ripe, selecting matching clothes or stopping at a red light, can be difficult for those with colour blindness. Most people with this genetic disorder have trouble discriminating red and green shades, and red-tinted glasses can make those colors more prominent and easier to see. However, these lenses are bulky and the lens material cannot be made to fix vision problems. Thus, researchers have shifted to the development of special tinted contact lenses. Although the prototype hot-pink dyed lenses improved red-green color perception in clinical trials, they leached dye, which led to concerns about their safety. Gold nanocomposites are nontoxic and have been used for centuries to produce "cranberry glass" because of the way they scatter light. 

To make the contact lenses, the researchers evenly mixed gold nanoparticles into a hydrogel polymer, producing rose-tinted gels that filtered light within 520-580 nm, the wavelengths where red and green overlap. The most effective contact lenses were those with 40 nm-wide gold nano particles, because in tests, these particles did not clump or filter more color than necessary. In addition, these lenses had water-retention properties similar to those of commercial ones and were not toxic to cells growing in petri dishes in the lab. Finally, the researchers directly compared their new material to two commercially available pairs of tinted glasses, and their previously developed hot-pink dyed contact lens. The gold nanocomposite lenses were more selective in the wavelengths they blocked than the glasses. The new lenses matched the wavelength range of the dyed contact lenses, suggesting the gold nanocomposite ones would be suitable for people with red-green color issues without the potential safety concerns. The researchers say that the next step is to conduct clinical trials with human patients to assess comfort.

Ahmed E. Salih et al. Gold Nanocomposite Contact Lenses for Color Blindness Management, ACS Nano (2021). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c09657

https://phys.org/news/2021-03-blindness-correcting-contact-lenses.h...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 4, 2021 at 12:06pm

Animals fake death for long periods to escape predators

Many animals feign death to try to escape their predators, with some individuals in prey species remaining motionless, if in danger, for extended lengths of time.

Charles Darwin recorded a beetle that remained stationary for 23 minutes—however the University of Bristol has documented an individual antlion larvae pretending to be dead for an astonishing 61 minutes. Of equal importance, the amount of time that an individual remains motionless is not only long but unpredictable. This means that a predator will be unable to predict when a potential prey item will move again, attract attention, and become a meal.

Predators are hungry and cannot wait indefinitely. Similarly, prey may be losing opportunities to get on with their lives if they remain motionless for too long. Thus, death-feigning might best be thought of as part of a deadly game of hide and seek in which prey might gain most by feigning death if alternative victims are readily available.

The study, published today in science journal Biology Letters, involved evaluating the benefits of death-feigning in terms of a predator visiting small populations of conspicuous prey. Researchers used computer simulations that utilise the marginal value theorem, a classical model in optimization.

 Hide-and-seek strategies and post-contact immobility, Biology Letters (2021). royalsocietypublishing.org/doi … .1098/rsbl.2020.0892

https://phys.org/news/2021-03-animals-fake-death-periods-predators....

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 4, 2021 at 8:23am

Structure and dynamics of key receptor in migraine pain determined, paving way for better treatment options

A research team determined the shape and kinetics of an important cell surface (membrane) receptor called calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), which has long been implicated in migraine. The researchers  determined the structure of the receptor alone and in combination with its natural target molecule (CGRP). This gives us a clear understanding of how the receptor works during its normal function in the body. The work has been published in the journal Science.

Future studies will expand the investigations towards potential drug targets.

Tracy M. Josephs et al. Structure and dynamics of the CGRP receptor in apo and peptide-bound forms, Science (2021). DOI: 10.1126/science.abf7258

Migraine is more than a simple headache; more than 3 million migraineurs—more than 60% of whom are women—have at least one attack per year. A smaller subset experience chronic migraine, defined by migraine pain that occurs 15 days or more per month, for three or months in a row. While sufferers experience many different symptoms of varying intensity—usually nausea, dizziness, sensitivity to light and sound, and intense pain on one or both sides of the head—the physiological process of migraine onset and pain is different from other types of headache, such as muscle tension or sinus pain. While migraine was long believed to be a neurovascular disorder that involved dilation of vessels in the skull, face and cerebral membrane, research has excluded vasodilation as a factor in this type of pain. More recent work has identified increased CGRP in the trigeminal se... that results in headache.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-03-dynamics-key-receptor-migrai...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 3, 2021 at 12:46pm

People Are Accidentally Poisoning Themselves Trying to Treat COVID With a Horse Drug

People are trying to treat and prevent COVID-19 by taking ivermectin, a medication commonly used to de-worm horses – and they are poisoning themselves in the process.

The buzz around ivermectin has been generated by the FLCCC, the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), which formed at the start of the pandemic. It comprises critical care workers who previously bonded over the controversial use of vitamin C for sepsis, MedPage Today reported.

US regulators say there is not enough robust evidence or safety data to recommend ivermectin as a cure, treatment, or preventative medicine for COVID-19.

While the FLCCC has held press conferences saying studies show the drug could fight against the novel coronavirus, public health agencies and many experts say the research is lacking. 

Ivermectin can be tolerated in small doses but can poison an adult in large quantities 

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/coronavirus-people-are-accidenta...

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